pimpernel22

I bought a Discwasher head & lens cleaner and ran it through my Hi-MD recorder and then tried playing a disc (that was recorded a few days ago by that same recorder in Hi-SP mode) that had numerous drop-outs when I first played it, and the disc played perfectly in all the spots I checked. That seemed to solve the problem for that. However, when I put in one of my friend's discs (recorded in SP mode on an older recorder), the drop-outs were still there. My friend also says that when I sent him back one of his other discs that had drop-outs (when played on my MDLP recorder), the disc played fine for him, in the recorder the disc was recorded in. He checked all the exact spots in the time index that I noted had problems and they were okay. How can I get my recorder to play my friend's discs? I don't know why both my recorders are having trouble with them when he can play them okay. I'm going to give him my head cleaner disc to see if that helps prevent future problems, but that doesn't help with recordings already made...

>You do that with a special Minidisc head cleaner disc, like the Sony MD8HCL I have a Bib 16-N "mini disc lens cleaner" - is that the same thing as a head cleaner? I've used that in both my older Sony recorder and my new Hi-MD Sony recorder (plus I loaned it to my friend for his recorder), and I've still been getting drop-outs on recordings recorded from all three recorders. Unless the Sony MD8HCL would do a better job??

>What are your system specs? Dell computer purchased in '02...pentium 4 processor at 2.0 GHz, 512 MD RAM, 80 GB hard drive... >What version of Sonicstage are you using? Version 3.0. >Have you been using the same USB cord? Are you using a USB hub? For the recordings made with the rh910, I have been using the USB cord (plugged into the USB port on the back of my computer)...but for recordings made on my old Sony r900 and for my friend's recordings (made on a non-Hi-MD recorder also), I've been using a stereo mini-plug. I've been transferring audios this way for about 5 years, but this problem just cropped up several months ago...there's nothing different I can think of with my recording set-up... I've also been transferring recordings for my friend for a few years...I actually noticed the problem first with his discs (I originally thought his discs were bad...maybe recorded on too many times or something since mine seemed to be fine), but then a few months later, I started getting drop-outs on my recordings as well. I still have much more problems with drop-outs on his discs than with mine (whether recorded with the my new Hi-MD recorder or my old MDLP one). Since I can hear the drop-outs when I play the discs and listen on headphones, I'm thinking that seems to rule out a connection problem with the computer...and narrows it down to the recorder (but it's funny that 2 different recorders would have problems...even if they both are made by the same manufacturer - Sony), mic, or discs (my friend uses a different brand of discs than I do, though, and a different recorder and mic). I just can't seem to find a common thread... Thanks for any suggestions you can offer! ~Lisa

It's nice to know, in a way, that I'm not alone with this problem...it's not really something I'm doing wrong then. It's just strange that this problem started nearly a year ago, but I've been transferring live recordings from my minidiscs for about 5 years now...I can't figure out why the problem suddenly occurred. I even replaced my Sony mz-r900 (thinking the recorder had gone bad) with a new Sony mz-rh910 a few months ago, yet the problem of the drop-outs didn't go away. So, in my case, it wouldn't necessarily be the Hi-MD format, since my old Sony mz-r900 was just a MDLP recorder. The only common things are that both recorders are Sonys...and my discs are the same (although my friend's minidiscs are Sonys and mine are TDK...I seem to have more problems playing his discs than mine). I could try sending the unit back to Sony...I just fear that since the problems weren't unique to the new Hi-MD recorder, it won't solve my problem... Thanks for the suggestions - I appreciate it! ~Lisa

I'm hoping someone here might have a solution to my problem... I'm trying to transfer my live MD recordings to my computer to edit and burn to CDs. I didn't have any problems with this until maybe 6 months or so ago when I started getting these drop-outs in sound (where the sound completely cuts out for less than a second). The problem occurs sporadically - some recordings are fine and others have nearly a dozen drop-outs in an hour's worth of music. I've used different brands of discs (TDK, Sony)...I even bought a new recorder (Sony MZ-RH910)...and still I'm having this problem. I've even had problems playing the discs made on a friend's recorder. It seems like the problem must be with the recorder or the discs, however, because the drop-outs occur in the same place - that is, if I rewind the minidisc and try to play the bad spot again, it still has problems. I can never get it to play right. Also, it doesn't matter whether I'm listening to the recording through a stereo mini-plug jack into the computer, USB plug into the computer, or headphones plugged directly into the recorder...the problem is still there in the same spots. Does anyone have any ideas...this is really frustrating me. I don't want to have to listen to every recording thoroughly to make sure there aren't any problems and then try to remove the split-second silence of the drop-out (which sometimes leaves the recording with a slight hiccup). Thanks! Lisa